Hanoi inspectors said Thursday corruption has cost the city at least VND967 billion (US$46 million) over the last five years (2006-2011), online newspaper VnExpress reported.

Nguyen Van Tuan Dung, chief of the Hanoi City Inspectorate, said authorities reclaimed only 30 percent of the total value from properties seized in corruption cases.

As many as 273 officials were arrested in 125 cases during the five years, Dung said.

The Hanoi People's Committee said it had issued a regulation that requires officials who hold high positions in district and town people's committees as well as state-owned companies to declare their assets annually.

Tran Duc Luong, deputy chief of the Government Inspectorate, told the conference that Vietnam ranked low in the Corruption Perception Index released on December 1 by Transparency International (TI).

The index, which ranked 183 countries and territories around the world, placed Vietnam in 112th position with a score of 2.9 (out of 10).

This indicates that corruption remains a serious concern for the country with no significant change from the last survey, Luong said.